Mankato, city, seat of Blue Earth County and also in Nicollet County, southern Minnesota, at the confluence of the Blue Earth and Minnesota rivers. It is the processing, shipping, and manufacturing center of a region producing grain and livestock. Mankato State University (1867), Bethany Lutheran College (1927), and a junior college are located in the city. White settlement of the area began in 1852, when the city was founded by Saint Paul land speculators. Mankato was incorporated as a city in 1868. In August 1862, angered by homesteaders' trespassing and by corrupt traders and agents, eastern Sioux began a brief rebellion. Led by their chief, Red Nation (known to whites as Little Crow), they fought soldiers and attacked settlers in a series of raids, killing about 500 people. The rebellion was quickly crushed, and on December 26, 1862, Mankato was the site of the mass hanging of 38 Sioux convicted of killing whites at nearby New Ulm. It was the largest execution in United States history. The city's name, from the Dakota term for “blue earth,” refers to the color of riverbanks in the area. Population 28,651 (1980); 31,477 (1990); 32,427 (2000).
